Sort of the Same
by Chiddie
Summary: Even a teenager with superpowers has high school problems.


**A/N: **This part's based on Blackest Night: Adventure Comic #05. (The featured story :-bd)

* * *

It's nice, just lying down.

Santana feels the wind sliding over her body, hears the near-silence of the night as it envelopes her, watches the stars as they pass by, listens to the beats of Krypto's heart.

It makes her sort of sleepy.

She yawns.

"'M really tired now, boy," she says, as she scratches behind the ear of the dog resting on her. Superman made it sound so easy, flying from Paris to Lima, especially on a school night."

Don't get her wrong. The city was breathtaking. But maybe she should choose a weekend the next time she travels across the world for fun.

This time, Krypto yawns, and—phew.

Do dogs brush?

"No offense, buddy, but you need a milk bone."

Krypto licks his snout and barks sleepily. Suddenly, he sits alert. He pushes himself off Santana and flies away.

"Krypto?"

Santana changes course, following Krypto to the middle of downtown. She rubs sleep from her eyes as she lands beside the dog. They're in front of Schuester's clinic. Santana takes a quick look at the front. Conclusion: Dr Schue's not going to be happy about this.

There are shards littered on the sidewalk, presumably from the glass set in the door. The door itself is ajar. The main window is also suffering cracks, and the name written on it, Dr William Schuester, has been painted over with red letters, these forming the words DOCTOR MALPRACTICE.

Question is, is the person responsible still inside?

Krypto answers, by barking in the direction of the open door.

"What is it boy? Friend or foe?"

"…uh, friend."

The voice sounds familiar.

A girl steps out, holding a bat in her hand.

"Hey cutie."

She walks into the light, and her blonde hair and her eyes—Santana notices that they still twinkle, even under the shadow of her baseball cap—confirm her guess.

"Brittany. What are you doing here?"

The girl looks at Santana in the eyes. " Um, leaving a note."

Santana raises an eyebrow. "With spray paint?"

"I didn't want them to miss it."

"And the broken window?"

"It was like that when I got here."

Santana eyes the baseball bat.

"Right."

Brittany steps forward, a little bit too close for comfort. Santana feels heat gathering around her cheeks as blue eyes bore into brown.

"So…since you happened to be flying by, could I get a ride home?"

Santana would really like to do that, actu—wait.

She broke into the clinic.

Right.

What would Superman do? Stop vandals.

Santana turns to go inside the store, when a hand grabs at her bicep to keep her from going in.

"You don't want to look in there."

Santana gently pries her fingers off.

"Brittany. See this?" she asks, pointing to her chest.

"You _do _have a nice rack."

Santana blushes.

"I—I mean the 'S'. I can't just leave this mess."

Santana wills the blood to stop going to her cheeks as she looks inside. There are glass shards across the floor, and on one of the walls is another big DOCTOR MALPRACTICE.

"Brittany. This is vandalism."

"Didn't know you were such a girl scout."

"Doesn't take one to know breaking into an office and trashing it is bad."

"Too bad. You'd look cute with a scarf and one of those little uniforms. Maybe with a shorter skirt."

There she is. Distracting her again.

Santana shakes her head, clearing her mind and allowing her to recall past incidences. She turns towards Brittany, who seems to have been staring at her all the while.

"I heard you got caught doing this before."

"You did?"

Brittany puts on this dumb-girl tone, but Santana knows better than that. She lead the Brainiacs to win Nationals, for Rao's sake.

"You're a repeat offender."

"Busted."

"Why?"

Brittany turns around so that she doesn't face her.

"I don't have time for explanations."

Santana smiles.

She walks towards Brittany and carries her in her arms, then flies upwards, so that they're a good sixty feet above street level.

"He—hey! Put me down! Well, not right now, but when we're closer to the ground."

Santana looks at the girl, who's side-eyeing the ground below. Santana hears her heartrate increase slightly, and feels Brittany's arms wrap around her shoulder.

It's cute when she's a little scared. She starts rambling, like what she just di—focus Santana.

"Why would you vandal a doctor's office twice?"

Santana feels Brittany's heart beat slower. She's calm enough to stop looking at the ground, and start looking at Santana again.

"I did way more than that."

Apparently, she's also calm enough to tell Santana the truth.

"You want the full confession, Supergirl? I poured sugar in his gas tank last night. Night before that, I toilet-papered his house."

Wow. Brittany hangs out with them from time to time, and even though she and Santana don't talk a lot, Santana knows that she's always kind and sweet—except with Berry and Hudson, but that doesn't count—and that she isn't the type to piss someone off on purpose. So yeah, she's a little confused.

"Why?"

Brittany looks away from Santana's face, and turns to the stars. She looks troubled.

Santana sees Brittany's spray can fall from her jacket pocket, and the same with her cap, but Krypto's gonna catch i—

A hand lands on her cheek, and pulls her in to touch soft lips. She feels warmth spread out, feels her eyes close. She wants to return it…but there's Quinn. She didn't think about her since she and Brittany started talking…but now…

She pulls out.

"No, Brittany. I have a girlfriend."

Santana stares into Brittany's eyes. They're surprised, and maybe just a bit disappointed.

"…then what are you doing up here with me?"

The hand on Santana's cheek moves down, back to her shoulder.

"Again, see the 'S'? I'm trying to help someone."

Brittany looks away, turning her gaze to the ground below.

Santana sighs to herself.

"Look, don't think I don't think you're hot or anything…"

Hot? Really? If she could slap herself…

Brittany shifts a little in her arms.

"It's not that, it's just…"

Her voice drops a little.

"…no one's tried to help me but me."

Brittany turns back to Santana, and Santana sees a little hopelessness, a lot of sadness, in her eyes. It tugs at her heart.

There was always someone there for her. The Teen Titans, Quinn, her Abuela, her parents…

"What about your parents?"

"My dad left ages ago, and my mom…"

Her eyes close.

"…all I do is help my mom."

Santana doesn't question further.

She flies towards Brittany's house in silence.

In less than five minutes, they're there, in front of a small house near the outskirts of town. She descends gently; Brittany's heart rate's slow. Santana presumes she's asle—

"You can go inside my house."

No, she's awake. Calm, but awake.

"It's okay Brittany. You don't have to invi—"

"I want to. I mean, I want to thank you. For not busting me or anything."

Please don't remind her of that.

Brittany's a vandal, but Santana's letting her get away.

Would Superman have done this?

If Lois broke into a Daily Star office and painted everything in pi—

No. No. Quinn's her Lois.

"At least tell me why you trashed the place."

She's hoping she says no, she's hoping that it's something personal that she won't tell Santana.

She's—she's not sure why she hopes that.

It's just…the more time she spends with her… hazel green turns to the lightest blue, faded gold turns to corn silk…

"Uh, San, you okay? You've been hovering for like a minute."

Oh.

"Sorry. Uh, what did you say?"

Santana covers the ten feet distancing her from the ground and makes sure Brittany's on her feet as she lets her down.

"Sure, I'll tell you why."

Krypto lands beside them, spray can in mouth, baseball cap on head. Brittany laughs as she looks at him, and Santana can't help drinking in the sound. She watches as Brittany scratches behind the dog's ear before taking away the cap and spray can. She watches as she unlocks the door and goes inside, followed by Krypto.

"Supergirl, you going inside or not?"

Oh. Santana jogs to the door. Brittany shuts it close after she goes through it. Suddenly, the floorboards above creak.

"It's just me Mom," Brittany calls out. "I'll bring some hot tea right up!"

Brittany turns to look at Santana.

"Hey."

"Is that your mom?"

"Yeah."

"What's she doing up so late?"

Santana follows Brittany as she moves further inside the house.

"She doesn't sleep much. Doesn't talk much either."

They walk down a short hallway, into a small room, the walls covered in frames.

"She paints, though."

Santana steps towards a wall to observe the contents better. They're all paintings, some of still-life, others of animals and birds, the whole lot of them good.

She scans the rest of the room, and her eyes are drawn to a painting just above the sofa. It's a younger Brittany, sitting on a branch of a bare tree. Her hair's tied back, and her grin's bright enough to outshine the sun. It's beautiful.

"Supergirl, if you wanna talk, in the kitchen."

Santana spares one more glance for the painting before going into the next room.

She finds Brittany already placing a kettle on the stove.

She also finds more paintings. Santana takes a look at them, and sees that they're just as good as the last ones.

Mrs Pierce is talented; Santana can't help but wonder…

"What happened to her?"

She looks back to Brittany, who at the moment is fiddling with the stove knobs.

"My mom? She got into an accident when she was young. Left her in a wheelchair. She's been—she's been declining ever since. And when her medical insurance refused to cover the medication, Dr Schue refused to give her treatment."

Santana leans back against the wall, thumbs hooked onto the pockets of her skinny jeans. She watches Brittany as she moves around the kitchen, taking out a teacup and a box of tea. Her movements are like clockwork, and Santana wonders if Brittany does this every night.

"Why don't you find a way to cover the expenses, instead of slashing out some doctor's tires?"

Brittany stops what she's doing—fiddling with the stove knobs—and turns to look at Santana.

"How am I supposed to do that?"

Santana walks closer to her, just as Brittany looks away, towards the floor.

"It's Lima, Brittany. They look rough, but there are a lot of good people in this town. If you ask anyone for help, they'll give it to you."

Brittany lifts her head and looks at Santana.

"Quinn must be an amazing girlfriend."

Quinn, who's been her best friend for years, who asked her to be her girlfriend last year, who's been through her ups and downs, who didn't shun her when she found out about her powers, who supported her when she didn't want a fake identity, who was cheering her on every step of the way.

Quinn, who Santana wants to love more than a friend, more than a best friend, but…

"Yeah. She is."

Quinn _is _amazing, but when Santana dreams at night, it feels like the wrong type of hair, the wrong color of eyes.

"That's what I figured. Suckage."

They just stare at each other, not knowing what else to say.

Krypto barks, and Santana turns around to see him pointing at the clock on the wall. It's 11 pm.

Damn.

She looks back to Brittany.

"I guess I have to go."

"Yeah. Thanks. Again."

Santana nods, and goes back to where she entered. She passes steps outside, and looks up at the stars.

"Wait."

She turns around, and sees Brittany walking towards her.

"Take this. The talking wasn't that much of a thank you present."

Santana takes a look at the thing in her hand. It's the painting of Brittany.

"Oh, wow. Won't your mom miss that?"

Brittany smiles shyly.

"She could always make another one. And one last thing—"

Brittany moves in and kisses Santana on the cheek before rushing inside and closing the door. Santana just stands, stunned.

5


End file.
